Jared has worked at the intersection of design, computer science and education for over two decades. Since his first Atari landed in his lap, Jared has used code as medium for visual expression and as an outlet for creative energy.
As the co-founder of Potion, Jared leads the design and the technical development of all Potion projects alongside partner Phillip Tiongson. Jared developed the underlying software framework that all Potion projects are based upon, and continues to develop that platform today.
In Potion’s five year history, Jared has attended the White House twice in honor of the National Design Awards and has lectured and taught widely on interaction design. Currently an adjunct professor in the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, Jared teaches the graduate-level courses Spatial Media and Computation Form. He has also taught at Parsons School of Design and at High Tech High in California.
Jared holds an MS in Media Arts & Sciences from the MIT Media Lab and a BS in Computer Science & Engineering from MIT. As a Research Associate at the Media Lab, Jared studied under John Maeda, who inspired him to create the Visual Machine Series, a novel set of visual programming languages that re-envisioned the way in which code is created. While at the Media Lab, Jared also created interactive pieces that were shown at the Cooper Union, the Museum of the Moving Image and the Museum of Modern Art.
Raised in Los Altos, California, Jared now resides in Brooklyn's beautiful and historic Park Slope.
About
PERCH is a startup intent on revolutionizing retail by introducing a series of game-changing interactive display technologies. We believe there is value in holding a product in one’s hands, and that that value is perennial. We also believe that there is value in the digital shopping experience, in having a world of information at one’s fingertips. This too is here to stay. Based on these two firm beliefs, we envision a future in which the two experiences are merged into one coherent, enjoyable and productive shopping experience. The creation of this holistic experience is not only a technical challenge, it is a design challenge. Only by acknowledging the importance of both domains will we succeed in creating the future of retail.
Perch Interactive is a spin-off of Potion. Potion is an award winning interactive design and technology firm located in New York City.
People
Jared Schiffman
Founder & CEO
jared [at] perchinteractive.com
Phillip Tiongson
Founder
As an engineer and filmmaker, Phillip co-founded Potion to create interactives that live outside the screen, engaging a wider range of human emotion. Inspired by creative ideas and “smart people,” Phillip is the fixer at Potion, where he delights in problem solving and finding new solutions when everything else has been tried. In honor of the National Design Awards, Phillip has twice been a guest at the White House for Potion’s achievements in interactive design.
With an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University, an MS in Media Arts & Sciences from the MIT Media Lab, and a BS in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering from MIT, Phillip’s significant contributions to design refuse to be compartmentalized. A former Senior Software Engineer at IBM in their Advanced Internet Technologies Group, a freelance Interaction Designer working with Imaginary Forces, Pfizer, and others, and finally as a Research Associate at the MIT Media Lab, Phillip’s strong engineering background help anchor Potion projects.
As an award-winning filmmaker, Phillip brings a keen sense of storytelling to all of his work. With selections in the Brooklyn Film Festival and awards from eveo.com and nibblebox.com, Phillip continues to make films and interactive cinematic art when he can. A long way from Celina, Tennessee, Phillip now calls New York home, where he keeps active with snowboarding, rock climbing, cycling and programming home theater remote controls.
With an MFA in Film Directing from Columbia University, an MS in Media Arts & Sciences from the MIT Media Lab, and a BS in Computer Science & Electrical Engineering from MIT, Phillip’s significant contributions to design refuse to be compartmentalized. A former Senior Software Engineer at IBM in their Advanced Internet Technologies Group, a freelance Interaction Designer working with Imaginary Forces, Pfizer, and others, and finally as a Research Associate at the MIT Media Lab, Phillip’s strong engineering background help anchor Potion projects.
As an award-winning filmmaker, Phillip brings a keen sense of storytelling to all of his work. With selections in the Brooklyn Film Festival and awards from eveo.com and nibblebox.com, Phillip continues to make films and interactive cinematic art when he can. A long way from Celina, Tennessee, Phillip now calls New York home, where he keeps active with snowboarding, rock climbing, cycling and programming home theater remote controls.
phillip [at] perchinteractive.com
Katherine Keane
Director of Marketing & Client Relations
As PERCH's Director of Marketing and Client Relations, Katherine works with brands including Kiehl's, Cole Haan and treasure&bond to create unique, memorable in-store experiences. Whether it's virtually whisking Kiehl's customers to exotic destinations upon picking up a fragrance bottle, or bringing a taste of New York City nightlife to Cole Haan shoe shoppers in a whirl of disco floors and digital confetti, each display captures the energy of these brands in a dynamic, product-centered way.
Katherine has produced interactive projects at Potion for clients such as Lionsgate, Smithsonian Networks and the World Economic Forum. She began her career in technology marketing and social media, and has worked with Fujifilm, Lenovo, Hyatt and others, with a focus on analyzing the conversations between people and brands and finding ways to improve those conversations.
In her personal projects, Katherine enjoys exploring the interaction potential of traditionally passive activities, the notion of play, and the experience of physically affecting objects and environments in unexpected ways. Her past work includes I.C.U., a first-person shooter game that employs eye-tracking technology, and Breathe, an LED light sculpture designed to curb the human stress response by providing the user with visual feedback based on their breathing rate.
Originally from Killarney, Ireland, Katherine holds a B.A. in English and Graphic Design from the University of Notre Dame, and a M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Katherine has produced interactive projects at Potion for clients such as Lionsgate, Smithsonian Networks and the World Economic Forum. She began her career in technology marketing and social media, and has worked with Fujifilm, Lenovo, Hyatt and others, with a focus on analyzing the conversations between people and brands and finding ways to improve those conversations.
In her personal projects, Katherine enjoys exploring the interaction potential of traditionally passive activities, the notion of play, and the experience of physically affecting objects and environments in unexpected ways. Her past work includes I.C.U., a first-person shooter game that employs eye-tracking technology, and Breathe, an LED light sculpture designed to curb the human stress response by providing the user with visual feedback based on their breathing rate.
Originally from Killarney, Ireland, Katherine holds a B.A. in English and Graphic Design from the University of Notre Dame, and a M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
katherine [at] perchinteractive.com
Neo Barc
Design Engineer
Neo Barc, also known as Sangzoon Park, is a Design Engineer, an Interactive Installation Designer, as well as a Media Artist. With his background in mechanical engineering, physical computing and media art, he enjoys designing engaging, elegant and dynamic structures for interactive media installations. He has also worked as a researcher in a robotics laboratory, creating a two feet, walking, humanoid robot. Recently he has worked on several interactive installations allowing him to apply and hone his expertise.
He holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering and a BFA in Film/Video from Myong-ji University in South Korea. He then moved to New York to study Photography at the School of Visual Arts. In 2010, he graduated with an MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he experimented with discarded laptops and computer cooling fans as video/kinetic sculptures.
He holds a BE in Mechanical Engineering and a BFA in Film/Video from Myong-ji University in South Korea. He then moved to New York to study Photography at the School of Visual Arts. In 2010, he graduated with an MPS from the Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he experimented with discarded laptops and computer cooling fans as video/kinetic sculptures.
neo [at] potiondesign.com
Louis Kanganis
CFO / COO
Louis has held C-level positions for a number of startups in the online media, ecommerce and systems/software industries for which he has raised in excess of $15M of seed and growth capital. In 2001 he founded and then served as CEO for Spring Street Networks, a VC-backed provider of private-label online personals solutions for a network of more than 200 media companies including AOL, Primedia, Hearst Newspapers, RealNetworks, and others. With a database of over 3 million registered members, Spring Street was sold to a competitor in 2005. Louis also has over ten years of experience in the securities industry as an analyst, portfolio manager and private investor for PaineWebber, Schroders PLC, and Steinhardt Partners, among others. During that time, he had direct P&L responsibility for assets in excess of $400 million. His primary investment focus was on the technology, internet, media, and cable sectors. Louis has an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Geophysics from Columbia College.
Tamar Ziv
Software Architect
Tamar Ziv is a designer, architect, and musician who loves to write code. At PERCH, Tamar strives to make the PERCH platform better and better with each day. Tamar graduated from the The Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) with a B.Arch, practiced architecture for a few years, then joined two bands playing the saxophone – and while doing that, she worked as a graphic designer and did exhibition design for the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Tamar moved to New York City in 2009 to join NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program and experiment with electronics, fabrication, and code – which became an infatuation which lasts to this day.
Tamar [at] perchinteractive.com
Nils Hickey
Software Engineer
As a software engineer at PERCH, Nils maintains and develops parts of the PERCH Library and is currently working on the tools that constitute the PERCH 'ecosystem'. Nils background ranges from data modeling for educational media and visualizing articulatory movement during speech production using a 5-dimensional EMA imaging system, to mapping old transportation infrastructures.
Nils holds a B.Sc. in Computation Linguistics and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, and an M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Nils holds a B.Sc. in Computation Linguistics and a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, and an M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
nils@perchinteractive.com